NY Times article - Creating Hipsturbia

To ward off the nagging sense that a move to the suburbs is tantamount to becoming like one’s parents, this urban-zen generation is seeking out palatable alternatives — culturally attuned, sprawl-free New York river towns like Hastings, Dobbs Ferry, Irvington and Tarrytown — and importing the trappings of a twee lifestyle like bearded mixologists, locavore restaurants and antler-laden boutiques.

I don’t think we need to be in Brooklyn,” ..... “We’re bringing Brooklyn with us.”

Welcome to hipsturbia.

While this colonization is still in its early stages, it is different from the suburban flight of decades earlier, when young parents fled a city consumed by crime and drugs. These days, young creatives are fleeing a city that has become too affluent.

Is this migration is limited to the larger cities ?

Oddball
Why don't you knock it off with them negative waves?
Why don't you dig how beautiful it is out here?
Why don't you say something righteous and hopeful for a change?
From Kelly's Heroes (1970)

Are you sure you're not hurt ?
No. Just some parts wake up faster than others.
Broke parts take a little longer, though.
From Electric Horseman (1979)

Not exactly news. Suburbs like Royal Oak, Ferndale, and Ann Arbor have been siphoning off the hipsters from the rest of the Detroit region for years now. You are seeing hipsters appearing now in suburbs like Plymouth, Northville, Wyandotte, and Mt Clemens. These areas are seen as urban, yet safe enough for the hipster kids.

Albany, NY had at least four hipster suburbs when I lived there in the 1990s: Cohoes, Green Island, Troy, and Watervliet. Each was very urban (all but Green Island were politically "cities" I think), and I imagine that they've become more so.

Buffalo, NY has four suburbs that might attract "hipsters": the villages of East Aurora, Hamburg, Kenmore, and Williamsville. These are all located within very suburban towns, but the villages themselves all have "urban amenities" like walkable neighborhoods, definable downtown areas with attractive dining and shopping venues, etc. The sophisticated hipsters with $$ probably take Williamsville or East Aurora. The less sophisticated but equally well heeled probably go for Hamburg. Kenmore, though, offers it all, including easy transit into Buffalo on at least three bus routes.

If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich. -- John F. Kennedy, January 20, 1961

Because Austin really doesn't have that much that's urban in the Northeastern or Midwestern sense, many hipster neighborhoods that are suburban in feel are filled with the city's trademark hipsters. North Loop was the most typical.

Cleveland: probably Lakewood on the West Side. Lakewood has a reputation as being gay-friendly (It's Cleveland's version of Ferndale), and it's filled with bars. Cleveland Heights, on the East Side, is denser and more vibrant, but it has more of an appeal to college students and career oriented adults/families than the crowd between them. CH has an American Apparel store, but that's probably not enough. I don't see hipsters in Cleveland's other pedestrian-friendly suburbs anytime soon; most are too quanty-quaint and/or old money.

Denver: I could see hipsters gravitating to the north side of Aurora, along Colfax Avenue.

Growth for growth's sake is the ideology of the cancer cell. -- Edward Abbey

I think you'll find this anywhere. I see tiny bits of this in Milwaukee. People are kind of tired of the higher taxes and lousy politicans in the City and though there are some great schools in the Milwaukee Public School system, it has a lot of crappy ones and a bad reputation. So I have noticed that some people that typically would love to stay on the East Side or Bayview are choosing certain suburbs (Wauwatosa, Waukesha, and West Allis) when they decide to have kids or buy a home. They are picking places that share similar traits like walkability, older buildings and housing stock, bike paths, and independent bars and restaurants.

"I'm a white male, age 18 to 49. Everyone listens to me, no matter how dumb my suggestions are."

2) In cities that emerged to prominence after WWII, where neighborhoods that have a traditional urban fabric (business districts with sidewalk-fronting storefronts, multiunit housing outside of complexes, narrower residential lots, etc.) are uncommon, nonexistent, or mostly gentrified to the point of unaffordabilty. Austin, Atlanta, Denver, Houston, etc.

3) In cities where few areas are considered safe by all but the most pioneering hipsters. Detroit, Detroit, Detroit, etc.

And, to a somewhat lesser extent ...

4) In cities where the public schools have an especially bad reputation. Cleveland, Milwaukee.

Growth for growth's sake is the ideology of the cancer cell. -- Edward Abbey

I used to work in the planning office for a community just up the river from those mentioned in the NYT piece. There is nothing at all 'hip' about Hastings on Hudson, Irvington, or any part of Westchester County for that matter - it's an overwhelmingly family-centered area. There is only one community in Westchester that even begins to capture a little bit of the Brooklyn vibe (minus any of the grit), and that's Tarrytown.

Really, this is just a story about affluent, upper middle class 30 somethings with expensive, niche-y taste moving out to the burbs for the schools and space. Nothing more.

In cities where few areas are considered safe by all but the most pioneering hipsters. Detroit, Detroit, Detroit, etc.

Outside of the 'Midtown'/New-Center area of Detroit there are very few hipsters, maybe some in the fringe areas like Corktown, but they avoid anything scary.... wusses. Then again, the way they dress and act are a magnet for trouble anyway. Earlier this week I saw a dude in a sandwich ship that had a thick/long beard on the right side of his face and was clean shaven left. He was wearing a rainbow colored 'cat-in-the-hat' hat. He was also a bean-pole and had those big holes in his earlobes. A guy like that would be considered easy prey in 95 percent of the city.

Outside of the 'Midtown'/New-Center area of Detroit there are very few hipsters, maybe some in the fringe areas like Corktown, but they avoid anything scary.... wusses. Then again, the way they dress and act are a magnet for trouble anyway. Earlier this week I saw a dude in a sandwich ship that had a thick/long beard on the right side of his face and was clean shaven left. He was wearing a rainbow colored 'cat-in-the-hat' hat. He was also a bean-pole and had those big holes in his earlobes. A guy like that would be considered easy prey in 95 percent of the city.

Aside from stories about pioneers and artists who are attracted to the urban prairie, the only neighborhood in Detroit I can think of offhand that has hipster appeal is Woodbridge. Even then, hipster amenities are limited. I can't imagine hipsters in the city's paler enclaves; Corktown, Parkland, or Delray.

Growth for growth's sake is the ideology of the cancer cell. -- Edward Abbey

Aside from stories about pioneers and artists who are attracted to the urban prairie, the only neighborhood in Detroit I can think of offhand that has hipster appeal is Woodbridge. Even then, hipster amenities are limited. I can't imagine hipsters in the city's paler enclaves; Corktown, Parkland, or Delray.

I consider Woodbridge to be the WSU environs. It was also the girlhood home of DetroitPlanner's mamma!
Woodbridge is becoming more hip. It is across the street from Wayne State along this stretch that is showing signs of it.http://maps.google.com/maps?q=detroi...1.97,,0,0&z=18

My high school was full of people from Parkland. Each and everyone of them had a dad who was a cop or fireman.

I've still yet to figure out how the hipster island known as Asheville, NC came about. It just seems to lack most of the draws that I'd associate with hipster communities. The only thing that I can think of being somewhat unique about it was all the Vanderbilt money that was spent in the city in support of various social welfare initiatives.

I've still yet to figure out how the hipster island known as Asheville, NC came about. It just seems to lack most of the draws that I'd associate with hipster communities. The only thing that I can think of being somewhat unique about it was all the Vanderbilt money that was spent in the city in support of various social welfare initiatives.

My guess: much like the community where I work, a major force might have been the influx of communes and back-to-the-land hippies sometime in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Growth for growth's sake is the ideology of the cancer cell. -- Edward Abbey

I used to work in the planning office for a community just up the river from those mentioned in the NYT piece. There is nothing at all 'hip' about Hastings on Hudson, Irvington, or any part of Westchester County for that matter - it's an overwhelmingly family-centered area. There is only one community in Westchester that even begins to capture a little bit of the Brooklyn vibe (minus any of the grit), and that's Tarrytown.

Really, this is just a story about affluent, upper middle class 30 somethings with expensive, niche-y taste moving out to the burbs for the schools and space. Nothing more.

I was thinking the exact same thing...other than the town being laid out before cars, there is nothing special here. The NYC area has many towns like this...some that come to mind are Long Beach, NY, Great Neck, NY, Cedarhurst, NY, Fort Lee, NJ, Englewood, NJ, Ridgefield Park, NJ, Teaneck, NJ, New Rochelle,NY, and the list goes on and on. Yes, they aren't autotopia like Paramus, but they just plain old suburbs.

Albany, NY had at least four hipster suburbs when I lived there in the 1990s: Cohoes, Green Island, Troy, and Watervliet. Each was very urban (all but Green Island were politically "cities" I think), and I imagine that they've become more so.

I wouldn't characterize these places as suburbs, they're all pretty urban in nature (with urban problems). In the Capital Region area the suburbs are, well, pretty suburban- lots of chain retail, totally auto-oriented, and not at all racially diverse (perhaps with the exception of Colonie which is a first-ring suburb of Albany).

I agree with MacheteJames that this article is really about people with means leaving cities. Hipsterburbia or whatever it is called is used as the excuse, but the reality is that these are folks seeking the comfort and safety of the suburbs and not just funky coffeshops and yoga studios. There's a tendency in liberal media outlets like the NYT to drastically overestimate the appeal of cities, along with the success of various revitalization efforts, but that's a whole other conversation..